Dubai: The per capita consumption of plastics in the oil-rich Gulf region has crossed 39 kg, which is 33 percent higher than the world average and almost eight times more than that of India.

"Plastics consumption in the Middle East is rapidly increasing. Events like FIFA World Cup Doha 2022 are boosting this consumption" Satish Khanna, General Manager of organizer Al Fajer Information & Services, said.

"Plastics are also used heavily in infrastructure and this explains the rapidly increasing consumption amongst individuals and corporate alike.

"Plastics and petrochemical companies in the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) are equipping their factories with latest technologies and machineries to increase their production capacities. This is where these multi-billion deals at the show were generated", Khanna said at the conclusion of 'Arabplast 2013', that ended on Friday.

Plastics are being produced domestically due to high availability of petrochemical raw materials in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). GCC comprises of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE as its members.

In North America, per capita consumption of plastics is 90 kg, in West Europe it is 65 kg, 10 kg in Eastern Europe, 12 kg in China, 5 kg in India, 10 kg in South East Asia and 18 kg in Latin America, he said.

"The Gulf States command an 11 percent share of the USD 600 billion global petrochemical industry. Gulf States could develop a domestic market for consuming their petrochemicals instead of exporting it to almost all other countries in the world," Khanna said.